Oct 6, 2011

High productivity for Japanese mold manufacturers demonstrated at WorkNC CADCAM and Hitachi joint seminar

Sescoi and Hitachi Tool Engineering welcomed representatives from 30 local manufacturers to a joint seminar at the Makuhari Polytechnic in Chiba, Japan on 14th September, to learn about the latest developments in Sescoi’s WorkNC automated CADCAM software, and the newest Hitachi cutting tools for high productivity mold manufacture.

On display were a range of components including a crankshaft tool, programmed in WorkNC and machined using Hitachi tools.

Mr Sakamoto from Hitachi welcomed the visitors and explained the benefits of the company’s Epoch Deep Evolution series of tools. The advanced design provides a high strength flute shape which features a stronger R flute helix angle and a shorter neck range for increased chip removal rates, improved stability and tip strength, and a greater resistance to deflection and breakage.

Sescoi went on to explain the programming of the crankshaft tool using the automated software tools in WorkNC CADCAM while demonstrating the technical advances and productivity enhancements included in the latest WorkNC V21. These include optimized time calculations for roughing and semi-finishing toolpaths, new flat surface finishing with automatic creation of multiple toolpaths, a new Continuous Finishing toolpath and powerful new toolpath editing functions. The seminar attendees could also see how parallel processing could reduce programming times by a factor of up to ten by making use of the latest multiple core processors.

As well as the presentations, Hitachi and Sescoi prepared a live cutting demonstration so that the visitors could see for themselves the performance of the cutters and toolpaths. For mold manufacture, especially when cutting hard materials, the ability to keep tool loads low and constant is vital for long tool life and high metal removal rates. Engineers attending the seminar commented that the live demonstration was particularly interesting as it clearly helped them to understand the advantages of high performance CADCAM.

By combining the latest developments in Hitachi cutting tools, designed for rigidity and high metal removal rates, with advanced WorkNC CADCAM, mold manufacturers can achieve improved productivity and cost savings.